Kelty Trail Dome Tent 6-Person 3-Season Reviews, Ratings and Price Comparison

by jimandbeamer 12/26/2007 7:32:28 AM

During this 2007 Christmas Season I began actively looking at tents to replace one for dog agility trials when my Beamer and I get back on the road. I was looking for the best deal in the house, for under $200. We wanted one that we could stand in, with plenty of room for two people and their gear, including the crates for our dogs. Most tents’ claims of “sleeps X persons” are inflated and usable space should include allowances for about six square feet of baggage for each adult. Consumer Reports found in their tests that when it states the tent fits eight people, one should plan on stacking everyone like cordwood - or stowing all the gear in the car. More likely, a tent will fit comfortably only two-thirds as many people as claimed, and probably half would be a more realistic figure. I initially had settled on the Kelty Trails Dome 6 or Columbia Bugaboo Dome tents (because at my age we won't be going too far afield) but then I looked at some of the Eureka tents. I even went to Consumers Reports and found that the Eureka Sunrise 9 offered the best ventilation of all tents tested. But, for many more extra dollars Eureka’s Titan does buy more room, easier setup, aluminum poles instead of fiberglass, and two doors instead of one. Kelty was not figured in their reports, nor was Columbia. When you consider the Kelty Green River 4 tent, you need to compare it with other Kelty’s, particularly their Trails Dome 6. But at the same time, we should be looking at the Columbia Bugaboo dome tent, as well as the Eureka tents. They all have about the same “footprint,” about 10’ x 10’, or 80 to 100 square feet. While the Green River has only 81 square feet, it does have a vestibule, or covered area. It is not included in the sleeping section but can be used for additional storage or folding chairs, to sit under out of the way from the flying bugs. The Eureka Sunrise 9 is also 81 square feet, but it has no vestibule, while their Sunrise 11 has 121 square feet. The Green River’s vestibule area doesn’t have a “footprint,” or an area that would be included as part of the “sealed tub floor.” It is in the outdoors, but could be covered by another drop cloth. That can be a problem with rainy weather - a covered space but with no flooring. But let us face it, the extra space of the Columbia Bugaboo actually is the storage, or the “foot lockers” of the tent, and could rightly be included as part of a vestibule (albeit, unlike the Green River, part of the tub), which the Bugaboo and Trails Dome tents do not have. If weight is a factor, the Trails Dome 6 comes in at only a little over 13 pounds, the Eureka Sunrise 9 is 16 and four ounces, while the other two tents are significantly heavier - both at better than 21 pounds – but if the tent is used for car camping that should not be problematic. But if you want to backpack the additional eight pounds can be quite a lot. Each tent has sealed seam flooring, generally made of nylon taffeta. But Eureka Sunrise has heavy duty 210 denier polyester oxford cloth for its tub flooring. Although the Columbia tent appears to be made of somewhat lighter material than the two Kelty tents, it has a polyethylene floor. Also, both the Kelty tents are seamless floor areas while the Columbia does have a sealed seam which may become a problem. The Kelty and Eureka tents tub design does appears a bit better, keeping the seams watertight and above the ground. The Eureka Sunrise tents have an excellent design for a "bathtub floor" since it means that there is no seam at ground level to leak during a rainy trip. However, it means there is a horizontal seam all the way around that is not covered by the fly. When it rains, those seam leaks. It's not a flood, but it most certainly is a design flaw in that it could have been lined or double-stitched to prevent this, or the fly could be bigger to cover that seam, so water rolling off the fly wouldn't roll down the sides of the tent. The vertical corners seams above the floor line also leak a bit, but not half as bad as the horizontal seam. My so-far-short-term solution has been to use up an entire can of seam sealer spray on the exposed horizontal and vertical seams. That seems to have done the trick for now, but we'll see if it holds up come spring. With Kelty's ArcEdge construction for their tents, the floor seams are lifted up off the ground to prevent water seepage around the floor/wall seams. Kelty's water tight wall technology uses a shingled seam approach. Kelty has also installed flaps over the exposed windows and doors to prevent leakage at the zippers even in high wind. The major difference seems to be the use of the DAC DA 17 poles with Kelty’s Trail dome tent. The others make use of fiberglass poles, two 9.5 mm for Columbia Bugaboo and three 11 mm poles for the Green River, and the Eureka Sunrise uses two 11 mm poles with ring and pin attachment. The Trails Dome has two 14.5 mm aluminum poles (7000), and two 9 mm aluminum brow poles over the awnings covering the doors. The poles found on the Trail Dome 6 are lighter, stronger and longer lasting than fiberglass poles. Aluminum poles are more durable to handle heavy wind and snow loads. Unlike fiberglass, aluminum does not become brittle in cold weather and they are heavier, but the pre-formed aluminum ones come at a significantly higher price. The fiberglass would probably be fine for the not too frequent camper. The Kelty tents offer heavier Nylon cloth construction for the tents. It appears that between them, the 1800 mm coating on the flooring of the Kelty’s would possibly be a better buy than the 1200 mm that goes with the Columbia, even if it is double coated. The 70-denier fabric appears to be better on the two Kelty tents. The Kelty comes with different fabrics for its walls and fly, being a 68 denier for the walls but a generous 75 denier poly rip-stop for the fly. The Eureka uses heavier fabrics: 75D poly for the walls and Fly, with a triple dose of 1200 mm for their Storm Shield coatings. The industry standard for waterproof rain flies are all constructed of polyester taffeta with 800 mm coatings, but both Kelty tents have 1800 mm waterproof ratings while it is 1200 mm for the Columbia Bugaboo and the Eureka Sunrise. Except for the Eureka, each of the tents has sleeves and clips - rather than just sleeves to put the poles through. While it makes it easier to erect, there may a problem in high wind areas for them all. The Sunrise 9 uses a pin and ring system to attach the 11 mm fiberglass poles, while the Sunrise 11 makes do with 12.7 mm poles. Because they are all dome tents this may be less of a concern, but the Green River will be harder for a single person to set up in that there are three poles rather than two. In reviewing as many comments on tents as possible this is one area that seems to detract from the Green River. The complicated and difficulty in setting up was a major complaint and must be considered. The Columbia Bugaboo, unlike the Trails Dome, makes use of large scale no-see-um mesh instead of another door and calls this mesh window with a skylight its Cyclone Venting System. For warm weather camping, like here in Utah’s desert county, it appears to make a lot of sense. However, both the Kelty’s do have very good ventilation, and should not be problematic. And the Eureka has four hooded zippered windows which allows quite a bit of ventilation or privacy. All the tents come with a fly cover, which would be nicer if it was bigger on the Sunrise tents (i.e., extended all the way over the entire tent). This fly must be used overnight, as the entire top of the tent is screen and without a fly, you'd get soaked in the lightest rain. Where we go there is always that chance, and one time at a trial the sprinkler system came on. I am retired and with my companion have taken up agility as a dog-handler team and spend a few weekends at trials. I would like to camp out (something that I left behind 55 years ago, in Korea and swore I would never do it again) and tried it this summer and fall, but with a smaller one person tent. And we found out that the high Sierras is not an area to be caught in during the fall snow storms that came about last October. We really don't need a screened vestibule area, but would like a little more room to wander - with headroom to squander like in the Bugaboo and Trails Dome. And we don't need a Springbar tent - not at this age! For me, the decision settled down to the Eureka Sunrise 11 and the Kelty Trail Dome 6 tents. They both had desirable features, but the aluminum poles and weight of the Trail Dome 6 won out – except for the cost. I would give each of these tents a 5.0, but because they individually have features that would be nice but are lacking at this time, I rated them both at 4.5.

P R O D U C T D E S C R I P T I O N

Here are the product descriptions from the internet stores that we found selling Kelty Trail Dome Tent 6-Person 3-Season

Altrec.com:

For the price of an average weekend getaway you can own a great tent that can accommodate you and five friends for nine months worth of camping of the year. Kelty's dual-door, six-person Trail Dome 6 Tent is one of the best values you'll find in quality camping tent designs. Like the four-person Trail Dome, this tent is well ventilated, but this larger version has sturdy aluminum brow poles and two doors instead of one. If we had to look for a drawback, it might be that the Trail Dome 6 doesn't have a vestibule, but if you're car camping, you'll probably put most of your gear inside your vehicle. If the vestibule is an issue, you can use the Trail Dome 6 as a five-person tent with more than enough room for boots, packs and fishing gear against one of the four walls. If you have ever camped with a group of more than four, you're probably already aware that most tents grow exceptionally warm at full occupancy. Kelty's freestanding Trail Dome 6 offers exceptional ventilation with sidewall vents and a mesh ceiling, which works exceptionally well on warm summer nights (the fly also has vents in case you're worried about drizzle). The two DAC Pressfit poles are structurally rugged but slightly heavier than the ultra-refined tent poles that you usually find on higher priced tents. Above the door and back mesh window you'll find attachments for shorter aluminum brow poles that help keep rain from seeping inside the tent door whenever it's open. If you're looking for a big tent for a big group but you still need to cover funds for cooking supplies and other important gear, the Kelty Trail Dome 6 Tent is an affordable choice that doesn't stick you with cheap components.

BobWards.com:

A well-ventilated two-pole design that evokes images of classic family camping minus the hassle.